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Interesting as usual. Im intrigued by your take, as you are one among a very short list of people I look to for insight. However a few thoughts brother. Lets add a bit of context to the situation you describe regarding the AMA, Jordan's influence and now subsequent departure. Under DMG the series is nothing like it used to be, its gone through a few episodes of evolutions, from immediate blood letting to the anemic condition it is in now. All the factories have left and ONLY Yamaha remains. There is no representation by Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki (or Ducati) once staples of the AMA paddock. This was NOT Team Jordan's doing nor did they have any part in ushering in this dire situation! The alienation toward the factories can be placed squarely on Roger Edmondson, period! The initial hopes of the high profile and successful group taking over AMA, who was wildly successful with NASCAR, namely Jim France and DMG, quickly became the never ending nightmare and eventual downward spiral to the point of near collapse of the series; this, I say again, can be singularly placed on one man, Roger Edmondson! A point that cannot be overstated, hence my repetition of it: from the public assault on manufactures (American Honda particularly then Kawasaki) and sponsors (pulling contingency money, hell I think even Dunlop didn't provide for any placements if I remember right), epic debacles at venues (safety concerns, do you remember his now infamous quote about riders refusing to ride a wet Mid-Ohio where he said of the rider's safety council (of which Ben Bostrom was a member), "it was irrelevant" and those who refused to ride having "the comfort zone of a gnat"?) to the vindictive tech inspections of Mat Mladin for speaking out, to the disregard of AMA veteran officials, not to mention the use of some to apply retaliatory sanctions (Mat Mladin, Jamie Hacking, Johhny Rock Page), to the counting of pixels (yes, pixels) to see if a rider had moved on the start grid to issue penalties of which it became clear were also vindictive, to the implementation of the (dangerous) "safety" car (Laguna Seca) to the purses going to virtually nil, to public spats with team owners (John Ulrich) to changing the rule book for peculiar homologation of Buell (which have since left) to....you get the point. This is the context in which Jordan Suzuki attempted to influence the league, a series in collapse, that is, one that was waning considerably which meant Jordan's brand would be losing value.
What did Jordan press for? He pressed for parity, namely the availability of competitive kit to non-factory participants. Not sure how using his influence to affect change to an already dying entity in need of life support can be disparaged as negative; that was, to press for more parity among the non-factory entries, which if you consider the spectacular exodus of the staple manufactures, what remained (non-factory participants) was the last surviving life blood of the series. Jordan pressed for the availability of kit to be purchased openly by all competitors. There are parallels to be drawn from AMA's Team Jordan to HRC in MotoGP with regards to wielding influence; however, lets make it clear, HRC are NOT pressing the league to level the playing field, quite the contrary, they are pressing DORNA for exclusive benefit. This, my friend, is astronomically UNLIKE the situation for which Jordan pressed changes to rules, as the benefit was not decidedly exclusive nor would it infringe on the two remaining manufactures (of which now one has left) to sign the best talent. Lets examine what HRC in GP has "earned" by influencing the rules decidedly in their favor, its become a rolling billboard of exposure. Contrast this to Jordan Suzuki in the AMA, where TV coverage has gone from bad to worse; if brand exposure is the goal, then why would he stay? Team Jordan was not this fly by night, rich guy momentary project, as they did stay and competed after pressing the AMA for more parity, it is a stretch to say he left there after. They joined 03ish, saw out DMGs near dismantling which is still in disarray today; Jordan was talking about the parity politics very early in his participation of the series, and he remained with AMA some 10 years. Contrast this with American Honda who left the moment they clashed with the DMG's CEO Roger Edmondson. In fact HRC may have left GP for the same reasons American Honda left the AMA, given they both required control and influence of respective series including its promotion, where American Honda didn't get their way, hence their exodus, and HRC have, hence their continued participation within a very favorable environment.
Brother, help me understand, as I don't quite get the negativity toward Jordan's efforts for the AMA to level the playing field. (I mean, I get Povol's objection, simply because I honestly doubt he understands the implications given he is a complete brainwashed minion who is talking out of his ... given he perceives the world through his political views and hence feels the need to counter them with Jordan's plight for a more fair series (there I cleaned it up for you KidK). But Jordan was trying to bring a new ethic of competition and elevation to our beloved American roadracing series, one I believe made sense. Look at GP for clues when manufactures are allowed to rule the roost, 4 win worthy bikes and the League's need to introduce CRT grid fillers to the ignorant masses. If we we are ok with HRC's unlimited hiking of the investment to compete, then we should be ok watching a gird of 4-8 bikes racing for the championship. I'll look for the link tonight in which Jordan talked about the need for change and increased parity in a racing series. I'd be interested to hear your points of contention regarding his assertions. I can't remember it all right off the top of my head, but I do remember reading it and fairly agreeing with most if not all of Jordan's proposals for the AMA.
